Some films can function properly only at very specific times, whether it is a particular hour, day, month or even decade. This was usually the case with many 1980s blockbusters - so called "event" movies that made great success only to sink into oblivion as soon as the novelty wore off. Today even those who feel certain amount of nostalgia towards 1980s can have difficulty remembering those films or remembering why did they like them in the first place, mostly because those films seem utterly dated. One of the films that didn't escape such fate was Gremlins, 1984 juvenile horror comedy directed by Joe Dante, which is hardly surprising because it had been out of its time during its American release. With story and atmosphere best suited for Christmas season, this film was originally planned for release in December 1984, but the studio bosses, afraid of competition during holiday season, pushed for the earlier release, making this film anachronistic almost in the moment of its conception.
The plot begins in Chinatown, where eccentric and mostly unsuccessful inventor Randy Peltzer (played by Hoyt Axton) came in order to buy some special Christmas gift for his family. He finds that gift in the form of "Mogwai", exotic but loveable little creature that seems to be the perfect family pet. His owner (played by Keye Luke), however, doesn't want to sell it and Peltzer has to buy it from his less scrupulous grandson who nevertheless issues warning to the buyer - "Mogwai" mustn't be exposed to sunlight, water or fed after midnight. When Peltzer returns to his home in small town of Kingston Falls, his son Billy (played by Zach Galligan) is enthusiastic about new pet called "Gizmo" and try not to break the rules. However, the inevitable happens when "Gizmo" gets presented to Billy's friend Pete (played by Corey Feldman) - few drops of water are enough for "Gizmo" to spawn few more "Mogwais". At first, Billy is happy about five pets for the price of one, but those new "Mogwais" soon show their true nature - first by physical metamorphosis into ugly "Gremlins", then by engaging into random acts of violence and destruction. Before Billy can do anything to contain the plague, the leader of "Gremlins" gets to the nearest pool and continues the procreation, creating hundreds of new little monsters in the process. Soon the whole town gets overwhelmed by miniature sociopaths and Billy and his beautiful co-worker Kate (played by Phoebe Cates) must fight the uphill battle in order to stop the mayhem.
During the release of Gremlins Joe Dante enjoyed reputation of Steven Spielberg's disciple and this is probably the main reason why many critics tend to dismiss this film as nothing more than an example of Spielbergian 1980s formula. At first glance those critics seem to be right, because Gremlins has all the proper ingredients – simplified, sentimental "feel good" story that celebrates American way of life, plenty of action and violence (yet toned down for the purposes of family viewing) and, finally, the cute little toy-like creatures designed to sell merchandise. What is even more important, it is not technically the best example of Spielbergian film - the opening is too long and too slow, some characters (like the one played by Judge Rheinhold) don't seem to serve any particular purpose (same as the narration by Hoyt Axton) and the final showdown is not particularly impressive or cathartic. But Joe Dante is nevertheless very capable director who seemed the best choice for this combination of action, humour and horror. He knows how to create suspense, which is evident in the scenes in which Gremlins begin their reign of terror. In this film he also had various talents on his disposal, ranging from seasoned and always capable soundtrack composer Jerry Goldsmith to the creature creator Mark Walas. The special effects were also very good, and new viewers who watch Gremlins today might learn a lot about Hollywood's capabilities in pre-CGI era.
Screenplay by Chris Columbus might seem formulaic, but even the casual observers might recognise the layers of satire and social criticism in it. First of all, there are plenty of dark overtones in the story that seem rather peculiar for Christmas film (like Kate's re-telling of a traumatic episode from her childhood). Furthermore, small town of Kingston Falls is in many way burdened with problems that pre-occupied many less fortunate Americans in Reagan's years - while ruthless yuppies (symbolised in underused Judge Rheinhold's characters) are getting filthy rich, honest hard-working blue-collar Americans are losing their jobs or see their firms taken over by foreigners, which in turn creates xenophobia, wonderfully portrayed by Dick Miller in his role of Murray Futterman. Even the protagonist and his family aren't spared of satirical or critical comments - nice little suburban mom transforms into Rambo-like killing machine when her kitchen gets invaded by few unfortunate Gremlins while her son dreams of using Gizmo's instant procreating ability in order to sell the prodigies and get rich. However, this potentially subversive content is most probably going to be missed by contemporary audience because of the moralistic ending that brings Gremlins back to the realm of Spielbergian formula. Despite being 1980s Hollywood blockbuster in its nature and, as such, less interesting to today's viewers than the audience seventeen years ago, this film is still good piece of cinema that could provide good deal of cinema craftsmanship and entertainment.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on July 28th 2001)
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